We must say at once that this being a criminal case, we do not consider ourselves bound by decisions of any court whether or not it is a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction whose jurisdiction was taken over by this court; other considerations may apply to civil cases, but those are irrelevant here. In criminal cases what we have to do is to examine each case cited to us critically, and if we find ourselves in agreement with any decision we will adopt it, otherwise we reject it.
Departure by the Supreme Court from its own decision
If our decision in Asante-Appiah v Amponsah has been interpreted as disqualifying a commissioner for oaths from acting as a witness to a power of attorney, or to mean that a power of attorney cannot be validly constituted by a statutory declaration sworn to before a commissioner for oaths, then we hereby depart from that decision pursuant to Article 129(3) of the Constitution. In our view, a power of attorney constituted by a statutory declaration attested by a commissioner for oaths or Notary Public has more gravitas than one stated on a paper signed by the donor and attested by a witness without an oath
